The Lady of the Woods

I pass forth into light–I find myself
Beneath a weeping birch (most beautiful
Of forest trees, the Lady of the Woods) Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The autumnal equinox is coming in few days and the Sun will enter the sign of Libra. The day and night are equal again and the air is temperate as the hot and cold qualities are in balance. The golden light of the end of Summer and early Autumn drops from the heavens and thicken around the ripe fruit. Walking in the woods during the early Autumn to gather mushrooms, berries or nuts like walnuts or chestnuts is quite common. It’s such a pleasure to withdraw from the noisy crowded cities and take refuge among the quiet trees.

One of the most beautiful trees is the Birch.

The birch is easily recognizable by its white bark and the pale green leaves. Its spindly branches intertwine in delicate shapes and its foliage rustles by the lightest breeze. The birch is one of the most harmonious tree. Everything in the birch suggests the idea of gentleness and softness but not of weakness as its thin and delicate bark hides a hard and resistant wood. When you rest under a birch you are surrounded by a sense of peace and the awareness that life is not a fight but harmony and grace.

Tree of Venus

According the astrologer and herbalist Nicholas Culpeper the birch is ruled over by Venus. In his “Complete Herbal” he says:

It is a tree of Venus, the juice of the leaves, while they are young, or the distilled water of them, or the water that comes from the tree being bored with an auger, and distilled afterwards; any of these being drank for some days together, is available to break the stone in the kidneys and bladder and is good also to wash sore mouths. The leaves of the birch tree are hot and dry, cleansing, resolving, opening and bitter;  for which reason they are of no small use in a dropsy,the itch and the like.

The Birch with its light branches and leaves rustling in the air is an aery tree and so it is appropriated to associate it with Libra, diurnal domicile of Venus.

During the beginning of the autumnal season the infusion of birch leaves can be drink during the day to warm and hydrate the body and help it to detox and eliminate the waste in order to face the cold season in the best condition.